I am not labeling coal miners as you suggest. There are many caring people working on these strip sites, but that in itself doesn’t make mtr a good thing. It’s a bad thing. It’s totally unnecessary. It is not sustainable. And, it is killing people, real people. I could also say that it provides only a handful of jobs and it does, but even if it provided a million jobs it still would not be justified. Any logical thinking person would conclude that when detonating nearly 5 million pounds of ammonium nitrate diesel fuel mix per day, PER DAY, above mountain communities in E KY and S WV, that people are breathing an array of particulates into their lungs including diesel and ammonium nitrate residue, silica from blasted sandstone, and quite possibly heavy metals. And, over a period of time the effects of breathing this toxic dust will take its toll. I believe that we are now witnessing the long term health effects of MTR blasting. Just because the government has not conducted a health study doesn’t mean it’s not so. They didn’t conduct a study on black lung either. Children especially are at risk being exposed to these elements. What are we doing? Why do we allow an industry to control us and destroy such a beautiful place? We have the smarts and ability to do so much better, but the masses seem to lack the motivation to demand that our representatives diversify this economy and lead us into the 21st century, instead of being puppets with the coal industry’s hand stuck up their ass and flapping their jaws.

“Your term “MTR killing machine” is a flat out lie, and you know it. Shame on you for using such misleading and false accusations.”